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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 0018.PDF
20 FLIGHT International, 5 January 1967 SPORT A N D BUSINESS An American in Brussels, Mr Gus Limbach, has designed and built this modified Tipsy Nipper to give himself a first-class aerobatic mount. Known as the Limbach Gusty, it has a new wing of bi-convex section, a fuel-injection 85 h.p. Continental and a tailwheel undercarriage. Mr Harold Best-Devereux, who took the picture, remarks that the Belgian ultra-light registration could conceivably imply a well Bonded structure Emergency Service Withdrawn The emergency VDF auto- triangulation service operated by the Royal Air Force was withdrawn on January 1 except for a limited service provided by the Military Air Traffic Control Centre at Preston. A Board of Trade Civil Aviation Department aeronautical cir- cular (124/1966) states that the Preston service will continue until June 30, 1968. The BoT says that the reason for the withdrawal is that military aircraft communications are being changed to UHF from VHF; 90 per cent of the users of the service are military and the others are non-scheduled civil flights. It is therefore uneconomic to provide the service for this minority. Any users of UHF equipment are welcome to use the new emergency frequency of 243Mc/$. Waitomo Take-over A wholly owned New Zealand company the Commercial Aircraft Co (NZ) Ltd, has been launched to take over Waitomo Aircraft Ltd and to produce the Air- truk agricultural aircraft. Two Airtruks were built (the first flew in 1960); the first crashed, but the strengthened second machine is still used and has completed over 600hr of testing and commercial topdressing. Mr Luigi Pellarini, the original designer of the Airtruk, is now engaged with the Transavia Corporation of Sydney in building a smaller version, also called Airtruk, powered by a 285 h.p. Continental 10-520. During the next 12 months Commercial Aircraft Co (NZ) Ltd intends to build five of its bigger Airtruks (each powered by one 550 h.p. P&W R-1340). Plans call for output to reach 15 aircraft in the second year and 24 in the third. Fuel Tank Problems The November bulletin of the Flight Safety Foundation warns of a hazard that could afflict air- craft fitted with rubber fuel cells attached to the inside of wing top-skins by means of snap fasteners: be alert, it says, to the possibility of partial tank collapse. FSF had been advised of two forced landings traced to fuel cell collapse. If this type of cell is removed or partially collapsed for servicing and the snaps are not all securely refastened, a partial tank collapse can occur. When this happens, and even if the tank is filled to the brim, the gauge may read "full." In one of the above- mentioned forced landings the fuel tank had apparently been filled but was actually 12 gal short of capacity. There is apparently no easy way of spotting the problem during pre-flight inspections and it could easily be missed on a lOOhr check if the engineer is not alerted to the possibility. The best way for the pilot to be on his guard against this kind of fault is to keep a running check on fuel consumption by accurately recording flight times between total refillings of the tanks. There are many good reasons why a safety-conscious pilot should always keep a close check on engine fuel con- sumption, for deterioration can be an indication of a host of potentially dangerous failures, such as fuel system leakage, ignition failure, induction system cracks, and so on. Jetstream Contract Scottish Aviation has been awarded a £500,000 contract by Handley Page to build wiiigs for the Jetstream turboprop business aircraft. Handley Page so far has orders for 165 Jetstreams at a cost (unfurnished and un- finished) to buyers of some £23 million, but is tooling up for an ultimate 500 aircraft The wing contract will give Scottish Aviation about two years' work. The 25ft wings will be chemically etched instead of machined and the stringers will be bonded to the skin by a heat-and-pressure process. First deliveries to Handley Page will be in October. Watch Your Depth Perception Two experienced pilots (says an ARB report) were flying together in a helicopter for the purpose of comparing crop-dusting techniques. During a low run the left skid touched the ploughed surface of the ground. The skid dug in and the aircraft went out of control, causing it to tremble and roll over the ground for a distance of 135ft. Fire broke out from a ruptured fuel tank but both pilots escaped without assistance and sustained only minor injuries. The helicopter was destroyed by the impact and fire. The pilot in control said that he had probably lost his depth perception while flying so near the flat ploughed ground. The Plexiglas canopy of the helicopter was tinted, and the pilot was wearing sunglasses. Mr Ole Fahlin, once the manufac- turer of Fahlin propellers and now an engineer with Lockheed Missiles, has re-engined this 1945 Piper J-3 Cub with a famous British engine of the inter-war years—the 85 h.p. Pobjoy R geared radial
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